


The Illusion of Calm

by Lea



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-21
Updated: 2011-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-27 17:09:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/298113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lea/pseuds/Lea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just another day in Radiant Garden.  Oneshot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Illusion of Calm

            Dilan was not put on Radiant Garden for the purpose of guarding its castle.

            He had an elitist mentality, so the notion of denial—verbal or physical—was not without its endearments, but the rare opportunity to make an example of a troublemaker or two simply was not _worth_ the time spent standing still.  And Dilan never stood still.  He shifted and changed too much, like the wind, always fidgeting on his post and coming up with excuses to leave it just for a new position.

            “Don’t you _think,_ ” he said to Aeleus, “we could be doing something more worthwhile than this?  I mean _really._   Yes, yes, great responsibility—oh, yes, the whole of Radiant Garden is depending on us to stand here and let heat stroke make us feeble.  They pick the cream of the crop and let it _stagnate._ ”

            “Is that a roundabout way of saying you need something to drink?” Aeleus asked impassively.

            Dilan rolled his eyes.  Aeleus.  Of _course._   The man seemed completely content to stand in one place until time eroded him away, as impervious to its passage as he was to Dilan’s occasional rants and—for that matter—any manner of obstacle they faced.  Even during their training sessions and the tri-weekly meets to keep them sharp now, Dilan had yet to see him lose his composure.

            “No, it isn’t, in fact.  Are you sure that’s a head on your shoulders and not a r— _oh_ , no.  Oh no no _no_ …”

            “It’s Even,” Aeleus said of the whitish figure flitting about the gardens in an infuriatingly neutral tone, as if commenting on the weather.

            As the castle’s guardians, Aeleus and Dilan nonetheless knew precious few names.

            They knew Even’s name.

            “Not _today_.  That’s the third time this month.  _Give up on the brat_.”

            “He’s coming this way,” Aeleus warned.

            “Ansem the _Wise_ ,” Dilan quipped, but fell silent at the approach of the scientist.

            He suspected Even had had an unforgiving childhood, because the blond always approached with the kind of wariness he’d seen in the delicate children who got bullied back in training.  But maybe that was just the typical hesitation at seeing two armed and fully capable guards, as Even always shook himself out of it and addressed them with professional grace to hide the desperation in his eyes.  “Have you seen the boy?”

            “He hasn’t come this way,” Dilan said.  “Sir.”

            Even’s eyes narrowed as if he _just might_ tell Dilan off for treating that respect like an afterthought, but his thoughts were clearly with the child and not the present situation.  “See that I am kept informed,” he replied, his tone a great deal icier, and the hem of his coat and the curtain of his hair both flared as he swept away.  “ _Ienzo_!  Answer me!”

            Silence reigned between the guards until Dilan was certain Even was out of hearing range.  “Unbelievable.  He’s fighting a losing battle with a _child_ —”

            “Shhh.”

            Dilan couldn’t believe his ears.  He stared at Aeleus.  “What.”

            “Quiet.”  His fellow guardian was approaching a tree farther down the path with all the grace and care as if it were made of glass.  When Dilan’s eyes finally searched the branches, he spotted a little leg dangling from one of them, almost lost in the foliage.

            “Oh for _heaven’s_ sake.”

            Aeleus ignored that.  “What are you doing up there?” he asked Ienzo.

            There was no response.

            “Can you not get down?” Dilan asked with a wry, cruel note in his voice.

            “Dilan,” Aeleus said, once.  Blue eyes rolled.

            “I can get down,” Ienzo said softly.  “I’m not some helpless child.”

            _Oh, but that’s_ **_exactly_** _what you are,_ Dilan wanted to say, but he knew that wouldn’t help the situation.

            Aeleus looked from him to the cobblestone.  “It’s a long way.  You could get hurt.”

            Delicate fingers rested on the branch uncertainly.  “I’m not afraid.”

            “I am.”

            Dilan could practically _hear_ the confused look Ienzo was sending Aeleus right now, and the urge to snort was intoxicating.  However, he was interested to see where Aeleus took this, because he knew the only way _he_ was getting the boy out of the tree was with a wind spell.

            “If you fall and get hurt,” Aeleus continued, “Even will get upset with me.”

            The leg above him started to swing back and forth as if in amusement.  “You’re selfish.”

            Aeleus nodded tolerantly.  “So will you help me?  I will be in your debt.”

            That time Dilan couldn’t withhold a derisive snicker.  As usual, he’d overestimated his comrade.  Aeleus was a sap at heart.  The tactic he’d chosen would probably work, because he’d turned the entire situation on its ear and changed it in Ienzo’s head, but it had long-term ramifications that Dilan didn’t care for and wouldn’t have attempted that same display for that reason.

            Ienzo’s foot had stopped swinging.  “All right,” he said.  “You’ll catch me?”

            The silent promise was Aeleus’s arms opening.

            A second leg joined the first, both dangling slightly in opposite directions now, but the boy still hesitated.  “What if the earth shakes, right when I fall?”

            Aeleus seemed to deliberate on that, frozen like a stone statue with its arms outstretched in supplication, and then he widened his stance as if preparing for exactly that freak attack of the elements.  “I will still be the first to catch you between us.”

            “Tch.”  Dilan shook his head.  Only _Aeleus_ would answer that question in all seriousness.

            Fortunately, Ienzo seemed to accept that, and in the next moment his tiny form slipped down from the branches and right into Aeleus’s huge hands as smoothly and easily as a doll.  What Dilan didn’t expect was the unnecessary show from Aeleus—the guardian’s feet slid slightly against the cobblestone and his grip almost looked like it was going to fail, like Ienzo weighed more than he was expecting, but perhaps the boy was carrying some weighty thing of scientific interest in his stomach.  It would certainly explain this prolonged interest in a child who couldn’t be persuaded to stay put.

            “I’m fine,” Ienzo said before Aeleus could ask, letting go of him as the guardian knelt to deposit him on the ground again.  His feet found the ground a bit unsteadily at first, but then he turned back to Aeleus with a child’s shyness.  “…Thank you.”

            Aeleus only nodded impassively, not rising yet from that kneeling position.  To Dilan it looked absurd, no matter how high the boy’s status, but Aeleus’s patience was like an hourglass with no top.

            That one visible, electric blue eye passed between the two of them and rested on Aeleus again.  “You have to tell Even I’m here, don’t you.”

            “Why do you keep running from him?”

            Ienzo’s gaze locked onto his shoes.  His lips moved to frame words that made no sound at first, and then finally— “I’m.  Scared.”

            Aeleus’s warning look silenced Dilan, who instantly mourned the crack about homesickness he was about to make.  “It’s natural to fear change.”

            A faint, almost self-mocking noise got past the boy’s lips.  “I—n—no it’s not because of…”  But Aeleus hadn’t given a reason, and when he realized that he fell into what seemed like a shocked silence, eye searching the guardian’s.  “…What if I make a mistake?  What if it’s not…what I thought?”

            “Then you find out what it is, and how to fix it,” Aeleus replied simply.

            That response wasn’t very effective.  Ienzo shook his head, biting his lip, but then focused only on Aeleus.  “You’re one of the guards,” he said in a scalding tone.  “And you owe me a debt now.  So you have to protect me.  No matter what.”

            Aeleus inclined his head.  “That’s correct.”

            “Promise.”

            “I swear it.”

            Dilan could see the white of Ienzo’s eye all the way around, and briefly reflected that even this child could understand the depth of the loyalty implied in that statement.

            “Ienzo!  There you are!  I have been _looking_ — _where_ have you been?  Aeleus, I _thought_ I—!”

            Even approached like a mother hen, ready to peck at the kneeling guardian, but as he did so Aeleus rose to his full height and the scientist slowed.  He nonetheless shot Dilan a similarly vexed look, but then took Ienzo’s tiny hand in a firm one and led him back towards the gardens at a brisk walk, still complaining over his head.

            The boy turned back just once to meet Aeleus’s eyes.

            “Very cute,” Dilan said sourly when his fellow guardian took up his position again.  “If I ever consume poison and desperately need to vomit, I’ll think of you.”

            Aeleus said nothing, as usual.

            They both watched the white of Even’s tall coat and Ienzo’s tiny one disappear around a corner, joining a third figure just before they did.  Not far off, the redhead from just the other day was sitting atop a wall and irking his blue-haired friend leaning against it.  And of course, just behind them, Dilan could hear the raucous laughter that meant the man he despised—that grinning hooligan whose idea of a hello was to shoot off one of Dilan’s bangs—was about to bang through the doors and greet them as crudely as usual.  Nonetheless, Radiant Garden was at peace, and Dilan didn’t mind—but it could be a little more interesting.

            “Did it seem to you…”

            He looked at Aeleus in askance.

            “…that the earth shook?  At the moment when he fell.”

            For a moment Dilan just blinked bemusedly at him.  Then he chuckled with a shake of his head.  “Go get a drink, Aeleus.”

**Author's Note:**

> Just wanted to theorize on how Aeleus and Ienzo may have met, and play with Dilan's dialogue (his voice is so much fun). In case I gotta spell it out, Ienzo did in fact pull that little illusion of a quake just then. Boy's been practicing.
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> ~Got it memorized?


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